Mexico weekly ledger., 1887-05-12
THE LEDGER.
THURSDAY, MAY II, 1887.
u Observation-Disclosures Peril.

1t is probable that ~" greater stroke
of fortune could have hcfallen Mr.
Charles A. Williams, 0f Minneapolis
than the recent failure ri a surgeon )
this city to insert 4 rabbit eye in /
head and make il grow there. \
Williams lost one Of his OWN eyes VIII
he was only IS years old. and haril
n prejudice against glass eyes on a.
count of their unhappy habit Of trying |
to look around corners and OF gazing
~heayenward when the natural eye is
bent upon the ground, his soul was
filed with hope when he learned that
a New York ophthalmist was satisfied
that he could transplant Il rabbits eye
to the human head. and induce ii to
take root and grow. He came to this
city, and a large rabbit with lustrous
hazel eyes was selected for the victim.
Mr.. Williams was informed that there
was no hope of his being able to see
with the rabbits eye, but that it would
have a more natural appearance than a
glass eve, and would conduct itself in
harmony with his other organ Of vi
sion. 1t is only fair TO presume. how
ever, that this was merely Il little sub
terfuge on the part Of the surgeon to
induce his patient to submit to the
operation; for if the optic nerve had
taken root and grown, and the eye had
lived and flourishcd, there is every rea-
son to believe that it would have con-
tinued to see as well from under Mr..
Williams e~yelashes as from the rab-
bits.
Still it would have been only q rab-
bits eye after all, and whatever it saw
would have been seen from a rabbit S
standpoint. Mr.. Williams must grad.
ually have acquired the habits and
mode of thought of a rabbit, at least on
that side of his body most affected by
the new eve. and this unnatural blend
ing OF human nature with rabbit ma
ture would have been far more incon.
yenient than if he had two rabbit
eyes, and had thus been wholly me-
tempsychosed. If, for instance, witt
this rabbit eye controlling him on one
side and the man nature on the other,
he had gone hunting and encountered
a fox, the mar part of him would have
been for shooting the fox, and the rab
bit instinct would have impelled him Il
quit the neighborhood as rapidly and
unostentatiously as possible. He woulc
thus have peer torn with conflicting
emotions, and a few such experience.
must have undermined his health ane
broken him down physically and men
tally.
How would he have conducted him
self when walking through his owl
garden? Would the tender green let
tuce and the beautiful red-veined beet
tops most have delighted the eye o
the man side or tickled the dainty pa
late of the rabbit side2 But thes
things would have been trivial con
pared with his inevitable feelings ha
hunger driven him to seek n restar
rant, and had he there found a deaf
and dressed rabbit hanging by tn
heels in the window. The man sid
would have urged him to go in an
eat, and the rabbit side would hay
O him away with loathing and di
gust. Such trials must in time hay
worn out his manly will force, and lie
the rabbit side in the ascendant,
which case he would have been lab
at any moment to make %incursiol
upon the Minneapolis lawns, hoppir
about on all tours over the rich gree
grass. taking here a nibble and there
nibble, till ut length his very appea
ance might have changed with his /
s~tincts, his ears elongated and stot
upright, AMI the unhappy man ha
fallen "A victim at last to some sire
dog. This great peril Mr.. Williar
HIS escaped by the failure of the ia
bis cye.-.HcW York Times.